Pictures from Brussels

Well, it's a slow news day (actually a fast "real work" day), so I thought I'd post a few of the more interesting photos from Brussels. First, the Belgian pedestrian symbol -- always a profound glimpse into a nation's character:

Now, a portrait bust by Edmundo Valladares of the Argentine writer Julio Cortazar, which can be found in Ixelles, the Brussels suburb in which Cortazar was born in 1914. Note the pink candy in his right eye (he would doubtless have approved). An Argentine friend of mine and Cortazar fan quite likes the bust, except he says Cortazar, one of the great chain-smokers of history, should have a cigarette dangling from his lips.

At a rest stop on a Belgian freeway, a Dutch-language "bread automat." The French-language version across the street offered exactly the same bread, until it was bombed by Flemish nationalists. (Just kidding!)

An intriguing Brussels graffito (I love the idea of public transport as browsing):

The 'greater yellow-eyed building-side spineback':

Here is Brussels' most famous tourist attraction, the sculpture of a small boy urinating which is known as the Manneken Pis. A couple of time a month they dress the little fellow up in costumes, such as a Tibetan monk or Swiss mountaineer. We saw him on a very special day, when he was dressed 'The Gimp' from Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film 'Pulp Fiction':

And finally, back to dear old Deutschland:

I hope you enjoyed the little excursion to that friendly nation of lovable oddballs to our west.